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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween!!!

What's everybody doing tonight?! Chandler and I are staying in to watch some fun Halloween movies with Diesel and the kitties! It's hard to celebrate fun holidays on a week night and since I was sick this past weekend we couldn't really do anything then either. But, I am still celebrating Halloween at work. To get a good laugh, check out my Insta story!

Fun fact about me, I can't handle anything scary and I mean anything! Super embarrassing moment in my life, I actually screamed in a Harry Potter movie. It was so embarrassing it was hilarious! In my defense, it was a suspenseful part. It was where Harry and Dumbledore were searching for the horcruxes and they were in that creepy cave and Harry reached into the water and the hand grabbed him. I mean COME ON! Who wouldn't have screamed at that! Okay, everyone else only jumped in their seat. Haha!

Anywho, if you can't handle Halloween Horror Nights or any horror film like myself, you can always watch a not-so-scary Halloween movie. Below are 15 Halloween classics that go perfect with any of your favorite candy!

Madea Halloween

Every Halloweentown disney movie

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (movie + show!)

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

The Addam's Family (such a classic!)

Hocus Pocus

Casper

Edward Scissorhands (heads up: this movie is sad!)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (perfect for anytime of the year honestly)

Monday, October 30, 2017

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share a fun fact with all of you. I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin. I don't mind the seeds, but the overall flavor of pumpkin is not my thing. However, pumpkin is super good for dogs. When Diesel was having stomach problems, we got some canned pumpkin and put it in his food and it definitely helped.

Speaking of dog food, all of us dog parents want to buy the absolute best for our dog right? Dog food isn't a one size fits all kind of thing though. Every dog has different needs which is why there are SO many types and brands of dog food!

Diesel has tried many different types of food, but we've finally found one that he really likes. About two months ago, we made the switch to Nature's Recipe. Nature's Recipe has been around for 35 years and are pros at making pet food with only the best natural ingredients.

With Nature's Recipe, you have the guarantee that your dog food does not contain corn or wheat, artificial flavors and preservatives, and poultry by-product meal. Nature's Recipe also has many different recipes for dogs AND cats! To find your perfect recipe match, take their quiz on their site: Recipe Quiz.

Diesel is currently loving the chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin flavor recipe. This flavor comes in puppy and adult, so no matter what age your dog is, you could try this flavor if you want! Again, there are many other recipes available that are filled with delicious, natural ingredients.

To find Nature's Recipe in a store near you, click here to find a location!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post and that you may have found your new favorite dog food! If you have any questions, please let me know!

Friday, October 27, 2017

Happy Friday babes!

What are everyone's plans for the weekend?! On Sunday, I am participating in my first 5K in a while and of course it's on the coldest day of the week yet (high is 67). To us Floridians, that's REALLY cold! Northerners, feel free to laugh at me. Haha!

So this week I am featuring a TON of fashion posts. Since we had some actual fall weather here this week, I've had all sorts of fashion feels. I hope you like them!

Speaking of fall weather outfits, as soon as I stumbled upon Caitlin's Instagram photo of this gorgeous Tassel Trim Wrap, I knew I had to share it in my weekly round up! The colors are so perfect for fall, and the tassel trim brings back my favorite spring/summer season detail.

Every blogger should have an understanding of how Google Analytics works. SEO (search engine optimization) is so important because this improves your blog's chances of being found in search. I highly recommend reading this article!

I have always loved the color pink. No matter the shade, no matter what it is; I just love pink! Arielle from Something Navy shared the most stunning pink blazer this week on her blog and I seriously want it. However, the price tag on it is a bit steep. But, under the article, I shared a few other pink blazers that I found with a cheaper price ticket.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Hey everyone!

Can you guys believe Halloween is almost here? I feel like October just got here! My favorite part of Halloween is dressing up. There's so many characters that you can be which makes it so fun! Halloween isn't just for people though. My family has always dressed up our pets for the holiday because 1) it's adorable and 2) it's soooooo much fun!

When I was younger, I had a dog named Abby and she always wore this adorable wonder dog (wonder woman) costume. Our dog Nala also has this really cute clown costume and Aiden has been a line barker (how clever!). We've even gotten hats for the cats before but that didn't last two seconds! haha!

Now that I have my own dog, I had to continue the tradition. Below are three hilarious costumes that we found for Diesel from PetSmart. By the way, a lot of their costumes are already on clearance so get them before they're gone!

Pumpkin

Beer Can

Devil

I'd love to know which costume is your favorite in the comments below. I might even pick your favorite for Diesel to wear for Halloween!

Monday, October 23, 2017

Hay there everyone! (see what I did there)

How was everyone's weekend? I know that I could have used another day. Haha! Today I am sharing my next date idea for my fall date series. Last week we had the most perfect weather in Florida. So, what else could we do than to visit a pumpkin patch!

Since I was little I have always picked a pumpkin with my family, carved it and baked the seeds as a nice treat. Unfortunately, when you live in an apartment, you can't necessarily do all of those things. We can't carve a pumpkin because we have no where to place it (bugs are terrible this time of year lol). However, we can use the smaller ones as decorations!

While we were looking for pumpkins, Chandler found the most perfect small pumpkin (according to him) Haha! He was obsessed with it the entire night. As you will see, he has it in every photo. What you will also see is how much of a goofball he was that night. When I first saw the photos I was like oh my gosh really Chandler. But then, I thought about it and was like this is so us and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My amazing photographer Chantell helped me find this pumpkin patch and I'm so glad she did. This pumpkin patch was at a local church and let's be honest...churches always have the best pumpkin patches! I'm pretty sure that we always got our pumpkin from our church or another when I was younger.

Chandler and I had the best time together and this pumpkin patch. If you're looking for a cute fall date idea, I highly recommend going to one! I love this because it's the perfect way to do something fall themed no matter the weather.

I hope you all are loving the fall date series and I can't wait to share my next date idea with you all!

Now, for this week's weekly round up I'm sharing a few familiar faces because I truly loved the articles they shared but I also have some new faces. I hope you love it!

Ok, first up, let's talk about work. We've ALL had a not-so-great boss before. If you haven't yet, I hope you never do. However, odds are you might. We all have a ton of things we wish we could tell our bosses right? Things that would probably get us fired if we said them. Career Girl Daily wrote an article called Things I Wish I Could Tell My Boss and it is so accurate. You're in for a good read with this one!

You all know that I'm new to blogging. Blogging comes with a lot of different challenges. Jaclyn from My View in Heels shared an amazing article about how blogging has affected her relationship. There are so many points that I have already seen within my own relationship, which made this article very relatable. She also shared some great tips within this article too. I highly recommend reading!

Staying on the topic of new to blogging, Bailey from Here's the Skinny shared a great article called Collaboration Over Competition. This article talks about how powerful the blogger community is and how we should always be supporting each other. She even mentions how this isn't always the case which I have seen before. I love how she is so supportive of all bloggers and that she touched on this topic. Way to go girl!

Chandler and I both love to travel, but with the budget we're on, it's hard to make that happen. Refinery 29 shared an article with 32 last-minute vacations that won't break the bank. For each location, they even go one step further to share a splurge AND save option!

I have recently read a few blog posts about setting and accomplishing goals for the year, or things to accomplish while you're XX age and I've LOVED them! I'm really thinking about doing a similar post. I stumbled upon Jordyn from The Fairy Princess Diaries' blog post about 101 things she wants to do in 1001 days. I love how she divided it up between work, school, blogging, etc.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Hi Everyone!

I am still so happy with my Nissan Rogue S. It has so much room and we have been able to take Diesel and his family everywhere! As I'm sure most of you pet owners know, traveling with pets isn't always easy. Depending on the size of the animal and how it deals with travel, can make the trip easy or hard. In this blog post I will be sharing many helpful hints for traveling with your pets.

My kitties for instance, each have their own cat carriers and they usually meow for a little while in the beginning and then they quiet down and relax for the rest of the trip. To comfort them, I usually put one of my t-shirts in the cat carrier along with a toy (that they usually never play with haha).

When it comes to Diesel, I have to do a little more than that. I purchased a seat cover for the back seat of my car from Walmart to help contain his fur and any dirt that he might bring in. This seat cover is water proof and it's scented so that it deodorizes the smell of dog from your car. I highly recommend getting something like this because it will keep your seats nice.

Here are a two options found at Walmart:Option 1 - waterproof and tear proofOption 2 - waterproof and non-slip

If your furry friend also likes to climb to the front of the car like Diesel does, I also recommend getting a car barrier. There are so many different types of barriers that you can get. Some separate the back area of the car from the passenger seats, giving your pet the whole back side of the car.

The barrier that I like is one that separates the front of your car near the center console from the rest of the car. The reason why I find it so important is because one time Diesel was standing on my center console and someone cut me off, causing me to hit my breaks and Diesel to fall. After that, he didn't like car rides for months. He's better now but that's definitely something I learned.

For longer car rides, I like to bring some of his favorite bones. Flavor bones keep Diesel occupied and calm which keeps us happy too! Grab your pets favorite and I promise the ride will be smoother. Recently, we have also rolled down the window a little bit because he loves smelling everything. He loves this so much that he's actually started to figure out how to roll down the window! :P

In a previous blog post, I shared a website called www.bringfido.com that helps you find dog friendly attractions in any area. I recently used this again when we brought Diesel with us to Tampa last for the Tone It Up Tour. I also went on www.Trivago.com to find pet friendly rooms. I have found that no matter what, I always have to call the hotel to book a reservation because not all sites have the option to note that you're bringing a pet.

We were able to find a great dog friendly hotel with a bed big enough for all of us. Needless to say, we all slept great! :)

I hope you all loved this travel post and if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below!

Friday, October 13, 2017

How was everyone's week?! I am so happy that it's finally the weekend because I cannot wait to just relax, get my life organized and cuddle with my puppy and kitties!

This week I found some really great articles that I hope inspire you and make you smile!

The first article I found was the absolute cutest article I've seen yet. As you all know, I love dogs, especially my own puppy Diesel. Sarah from Classy Girls Wear Pearls shared the cutest article of the most perfect puppy. Get your cute fix below!

I have loved Lauren Conrad's collection at Kohl's for years. Her collection has always matched my style: soft and feminine. She recently shared a "Chic Peek" at her October collection. Needless to say, I want everything!

With the Tone It Up fall challenge in full force, I found a great article from Hello Glow that supports it. The fall challenge is all about starting a new healthy habit and what better way to do this by reading some helpful tips on how to make a habit stick?!

A year ago I hurt myself from working out and really had to make some changes to what I was doing. Because of this I learned what yoga was and to this day I absolutely love it. Camille from Camille Styles shared an article with 7 yoga poses that will energize you. I really liked that she went into detail with every pose. I think that's so important, especially if it's a new pose to someone or if yoga is new to you in general!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Happy Thursday!

How's everyone doing today?! Yesterday was so fun because we did a Halloween themed photo shoot with Diesel and it was ADORABLE! I cannot wait to show all of you the photos. If you want a sneak peak, check out my Instagram story! :)

Today I'm sharing a super fun popsicle store located in Jacksonville, FL called The Hyppo. Don't fret if you live in Florida but not in in Jax. This popsicle shop also has locations in Tampa and Gainesville!

I love The Hyppo because every single popsicle is naturally made. Their key ingredients are: fresh fruit, fresh herbs & spices, evaporated cane juice, and sometimes dairy. They've created more than 450 flavors and trust me they're all delicious! To see all of the flavors they've ever created, click on the link in the previous sentence.

This place is the perfect spot for a family outing, a catch up session with your girls or any fun special celebration! The locations are super bright, colorful and inviting.

I love supporting local businesses whenever I can. My mom started her own business over 30 years ago and she's still going strong. I think anyone who has the guts to do this is incredible and inspiring.

The history behind Hyppo is actually really cool and I encourage you to read their story!

If you're not in Florida, you can still order some popsicles online. I will say that it is expensive for a box and not in my budget...but their popsicles are really good. :) No matter what, you can always get them individually at any of their Florida locations!

I hope you all loved this blog post and check out this adorable popsicle shop soon! I mean honestly...it's still hot so...go for it! :P

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Happy Tuesday!

How's everyone's week going so far?! I am so excited for this coming weekend because it will be the first weekend in two weeks that I will be HOME! I cannot wait to be a little bit of a homebody and relax with Diesel, Chandler and my kitties. :) I think a movie and a healthy snack is totally going to happen!

Speaking of food, who else LOVES Skinnypop popcorn?! I love Skinnypop because it has no artificial ingredients, it's non GMO, and it's free of so many ingredients that many people are allergic to (i.e. peanuts, dairy).

Skinnypop thought it would be really fun to create a fall snack guide that features their favorite popcorn flavors along with their go-to drink of choice! When Chandler and I looked at the list, we immediately gravitated towards the apple cider Moscow mule and the apple cider sangria. After trying both, our favorite was the Moscow mule + Original SkinnyPop pairing!

If you are a huge fan of Moscow mule's like Chandler and I are, then you have to try thistwist on a classic. I personally would have never thought of this combination but I am so glad I tried it! If you're looking for a fall drink that your guests will love at your next event, this one is for you!

Friday, October 6, 2017

Happy Fridayyy!

Anyone else feel like this week went by so fast? This week was super tiring though since it was my first week back at work from my vacation. I was shocked that I was tired because I didn't do anything strenuous on my vacation! I just relaxed the whole time (except for at the TIU tour of course). But, being that relaxed can make you tired too and I'm finally feeling like my good 'ol self again!

This weekend I am actually on the road again to visit some family and friends back home. My friend Sarah, who's getting married in November, is having her bridal shower this Saturday so I'm super excited for that. Also, Chandler's grandma is celebrating her 80th birthday on Sunday. PSA: She is the coolest grandma ever. I mean, she's busier than I am! Every night she has plans with her girls and I'm just like wow, I hope I'm that cool when I'm her age.

For this week's round up, I found some really great articles. I hope you like them!

Where's my Bachelor Nation people at?! Refinery 29 published an article yesterday featuring the man who should have won this past season (IMO), Peter Kraus. In February, Peter will be joining other Bachelor stars at a winter resort where they will be having their own winter games. This honestly sounds hilarious and I can't wait for the show's debut!

Who else is SO glad that October is finally here! While the first day of fall is technically in September, it really doesn't feel like fall to me until October hits because it's the first month with a major holiday and tons of festive events since the 4th. Speaking of being festive, I found the cutest Halloween costume article from A Beautiful Mess that will make all of the mom and daughter duo's smile.

Two trends that I can't get enough of right now are lace and velvet. As soon as I saw this article from Extra Petite, I knew it was one I had to share. Jean shared a few gorgeous dresses from Bloomingdales that are perfect for the upcoming months!

I know I've featured her recently, but I'll say it again...I think Samantha is awesome! She shared an article with 15 motivational quotes to power your workout and they're all great. Sometimes we need to read something like this in order to keep going. I know I have those days all the time! If you need a little pick me up or just want to read something positive, check out Samantha's article below.

For all my TIU team, Tone It Up just released their Fall Challenge!!! The challenge is only 21 days long which means it's time to get focused and accomplish some major goals! To learn more about the challenge and to sign up, click the link below. (It starts this Monday!!!)

Last but not least, did anyone see yesterday that THE BOLD TYPE IS COMING BACK FOR TWO MORE SEASONS!!!!!!! Sorry not sorry for the caps there...I'm just so excited!!! If you have not yet binge watched season one, consider yourself busy this weekend. :)

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Hey Tone It Up Girls!!!!!!

This past Saturday I attended the Tone It Up Tour in Tampa and had the BEST TIME EVER!!! Originally, I wasn't able to go this year because it wasn't in our budget. However, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed one night and saw that one of the bloggers I follow, Adeline Waugh, creator of Vibrant and Pure, was doing a raffle for Tone It Up Tour tickets and I entered on a whim.

The next day, I received a message from Adelinestating that I WON!!!!! I've never won anything in my life and so to win this was a dream come true! I was able to meet up with one of my coworkers and her friends at the event and we had such a great time.

Lacey, our yoga instructor was amazing! Since the weather was so hot, yoga was the perfect way to start the day since it was a nice soothing flow. Once this was done we had about ten to fifteen minutes before Jillian Michaels came on. If you saw any of my Insta story (I took one video when she came out and one when we were stretching) or any other TIU girl's Insta story, you would have seen that Jillian Michaels came to play! I have never done any of her workouts before (even though I have some tapes at home which I'm going to try this week lol) but oh my God she kicked all of our butt's SO HARD!

I played soccer a little when I was in high school and my coach was the kind that would yell at you to motivate you. I respond very well to that type of motivation because I like someone screaming at me to keep me going. I know, I'm weird. But that's just what Jillian did! She was yelling and screaming at us to push ourselves to our limit and man was I (and most likely every girl there) exhausted afterwards. After that workout we had about fifteen minutes until Karena & Katrina came out and I used that time to chug a huge bottle of Core water! haha!

Then, the time that we had all been waiting for had come. Karena & Katrina!!!!!! I have never worked out with or seen these girls in person before until this day. They are so funny when they are together, they had the whole crowd in hysterics. We did an awesome booty band workout, some yoga and more. What I loved most, was that they rotate between being on stage and working out with people in the crowd. I was so lucky, Karena and Katrina came by me!!!

Besides the workouts, the tour featured massage tables, a braid bar, a rose quartz bracelet stand, an endless supply of core water, delicious kombucha (that I tried for the first time), some tone it up merch that I was not fast enough to score haha, sunscreen and Moroccan hair spray stations and of course a Rose Garden for VIP members (there was a rose stand for general admission too)!

This tour was definitely made for all of us Tone It Up girls and could not have been more perfect. After the tour I looked up the #tiutour hashtag to see what other TIU girls were posting on Insta and actually made a friend! I haven't done the best at meeting new people in the TIU community, and so one goal that I have set for myself, is to really interact with the community and make some amazing TIU fitness friends!

I cannot wait to go again next year, and that time I will definitely save up to have VIP access. If you have attended any of the Tone It Up Tour locations, please comment below because I would love to meet you and work out together via the app or if you're a Florida native!

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Hi everyone! My name is Caitlin and I am the creator of Sparkles and Sunshine. My lifestyle blog consists of fashion, fitness, travel, and of course life with my favorite puppy Diesel! I hope you have fun reading!